Saturday, January 15, 2011

Brock: Glenn Beck Responsible for Three Assassination Attempts

Media Matters President and CEO David Brock explains how Glenn Beck has previously provoked assassination attempts, on Hardball with Chris Matthews

BROCK: But this is not street theater, as you know. I mean, Glenn Beck himself has been responsible for three thwarted assassination attempts this year, and Sarah Palin hasn't condemned that.

MATTHEWS: How is he responsible for them?

BROCK: Well, you want to know what they are?

MATTHEWS: You said it.

BROCK: Yeah, sure. So, he burned Nancy Pelosi in effigy on his set. He tried to poison her with a chalice, OK? Some weeks later, somebody tried to firebomb Nancy Pelosi's house. That guy's mother went on television and said he gets all of his ideas from Fox News. Do you know about Senator Patty Murray and the death threat that she got?

MATTHEWS: No, go ahead.

BROCK: OK. It's recorded -- the guy says after the health care vote. He says you have a target on your back and I can accomplish what I want to accomplish with one bullet. Now he's tried, convicted, and in the sentencing phase, his cousin writes in for leniency, and she describes in a very chilling memo -- it's on our website -- that he was slowly drawn into Glenn Beck's world. And she portrays the guy, the attempted assassin, Charlie Wilson, as a victim of Beck.

And number three, which you probably do know about, this liberal foundation in San Francisco was targeted by a gunman, Byron Williams, in June. The shooter gave jailhouse interviews, and we published them, and he says Glenn Beck is this schoolteacher on television and points to specific episodes of the Glenn Beck show that inspired him do it. Brock: Beck "Has Been Responsible For Three Thwarted Assassination Attempts"

6 Comments:

Never forget said...

"We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of protesters over the course of the last several months. Our office corner has really become an area where the Tea Party movement congregates. And the rhetoric is incredibly heated. Not just the calls, but the emails, the slurs. So things have really gotten spun up. But you gotta think about it. Our democracy is a light, a beacon really around the world, because we effect change at the ballot box, and not because of these outbursts — of violence in certain cases, and the yelling, and it’s just … you know, change is important, it’s a part of our process, but it’s really important that we focus on the fact that we have a democratic process.”

“I think it’s important for all leaders, not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party … community leaders, figures in our community to say, ‘Look, we can’t stand for this.’ I mean, this is a situation where people really need to realize that the rhetoric, and firing people up, and even things … For example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there’s consequences to that action.”

“In the years that some of my colleagues have served, twenty, thirty years, they’ve never seen it like this. We have to work out our problems by negotiating, working together, hopefully Democrats and Republicans.”

"TUCSON, Ariz. — A gun control advocate in Tucson was taken into custody Saturday after yelling "you're dead" at a Tea Party spokesman during the taping of an ABC-TV town hall event hosted by Christianne Amanpour.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to an undisclosed medical facility, NBC News reported. The Associated Press said he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

He faces charges of threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct, according to Tucson TV station KGUN.

The gathering for "After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued," to be shown as a special edition of "This Week" Sunday, included witnesses, first responders, victims and heroes of the Jan. 8 mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Local officials and others also packed St. Odilia's Catholic Church in northwest Tucson, where the show was taped.

KGUN reported that Fuller took exception to comments by Republican state Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.

Fuller was in the front row and apparently became upset when Humphries suggested that any conversations about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried, KGUN reported.

Fuller took a picture of Humphries and shouted, “You’re dead.”

Some media reports said Fuller kept booing and making other remarks before deputies escorted him from the church.

Also at the church were Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and former Rep. Jim Kolbe.

If Humphries decides not to press charges, the charges will be dropped, Pima Deputy Jason Ogan told Phoenix station KNXV.

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson mass shooting victim was taken into custody Saturday after yelling "you're dead" at a Tea Party spokesman during the taping of an ABC-TV town hall event hosted by Christianne Amanpour.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office said J. Eric Fuller, 63, was involuntarily committed to an undisclosed medical facility, NBC News reported. The Associated Press said he was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.

He faces charges of threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct, according to Tucson TV station KGUN.

The gathering for "After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued," to be shown as a special edition of "This Week" Sunday, included witnesses, first responders, victims and heroes of the Jan. 8 mass shooting that killed six and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.Local officials and others also packed St. Odilia's Catholic Church in northwest Tucson, where the show was taped.

KGUN reported that Fuller took exception to comments by Republican state Rep. Terri Proud and Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries.Fuller was in the front row and apparently became upset when Humphries suggested that any conversations about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried, KGUN reported.

Fuller took a picture of Humphries and shouted, “You’re dead.”

Some media reports said Fuller kept booing and making other remarks before deputies escorted him from the church.

Also at the church were Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and former Rep. Jim Kolbe.

If Humphries decides not to press charges, the charges will be dropped, Pima Deputy Jason Ogan told Phoenix station KNXV.

The hospital will determine when he will be released, Ogan said.

Fuller reportedly felt a bullet hit his knee Jan. 8, but didn't know he had also been struck in the back. The Arizona Daily Star reported, Fuller, a naval air veteran, drove himself to Northwest Hospital after being shot. He was later taken to University Medical Center where he was released two days later.

It's a good question in relative limitations on liberty, dearest anonymous: do we increase the ability of the government to incarcerate people on the basis of perceived imbalance, or do we increase the ability of the government to limit the manufacture and sale of weapons.

You clearly have an opinion, and one would assume from that opinion that you consider yourself among the class of sane people. My concern is that if we start labelling people as crazy and worthy of seizure, who decides, on what criteria, and how do we prevent abuse.